*backboards: we wanted a really smooth overall look especially since the paint was going to be glossy and our textured walls weren't going to give us that look. I've seen tons of wonderful board & batten projects with only the vertical battens and horizontal pieces...it's just not what we wanted here.

You may be wondering why each of the backboard pieces was cut separately rather than a couple of big pieces laid down [which would've been easier]. The logic of cutting them as separate pieces has to do with the existing baseboard: if we'd just laid the 1/8" thick backboard on the wall and put the vertical battens over it, the battens would've stuck out 1/8" over the baseboards. Does this make sense? Total layers would've made the whole thing too thick...this way the vertical battens are flush against the existing baseboard.

Everything was cut with our table saw, then secured to the wall studs with the awesome Ryobi nail gun [I swear Ryobi isn't paying me to love their nail gun, I bought it myself and I just love it!].

You'll see from the picture below that it works on a battery rather than a compressor, which is really convenient. Of course that does add to the weight of it but I think it's a great trade-off.

[yay Ryobi nail gun!]

We did the bottom section first, moving left to right...backboard, vertical, next backboard, next vertical...and so on.
We topped the bottom section with the 1"x5" horizontal molding pieces. Then moved to the top section working again left to right filling in the backboards:

A final 1"x5" horizontal topper capped off the whole thing. Then we caulked along the seams, used painter's putty to fill in the teeny nail holes, gave it all a light sanding with the orbital sander, then painted, and finally hung the hooks.

Painted and hooked and ready to decorate! Um, yes even though it's meant to be functional, a little decor is a must :-)
Now this is what I'm talking about...